The Wolfman

Film Details

Actors: Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving

Director: Joe Johnston - Director

Classification: MA

Rating:

Get ready to howl at the moon once more. The werewolf movie has returned, and this time it's Benicio Del Toro who gets the chance to grow hair and cause some mayhem in director Joe Johnston's "The Wolfman".

Following a similar path to the classic 1941 Universal horror film that starred Lon Chaney Jr (original script writer Curt Siodmak is even credited), "The Wolfman" is set in the England of the late 19th century.

American-based actor Lawrence Talbot (played by Del Toro) has returned home to the family mansion following the mysterious death of his brother. There he encounters his distant father (Anthony Hopkins), a grieving fiancee (Emily Blunt) and a small town held in the grip of fear.

The long-time locals and the traveling gypsies know what happened to Lawrence's brother - he was killed by a werewolf. Lawrence remains skeptical until he's attacked himself, and things get very hairy for him, in more ways than one, when the next full moon rises.

Director Joe Johnston began his film career as an effects illustrator and set designer, so it should come as no surprise that "The Wolfman" succeeds more as a visual piece of cinema than as a coherent and engaging narrative. That's okay, because on visuals alone, this is one extremely enjoyable romp into the retro horror genre.

Every Victorian horror cliche is on display; flickering candles, ominous staircases, torch wielding villagers, mist, and oodles of blood. It's all here, but it's done so well, and with such respect for the genre that you don't mind if you've seen it all before.

Most importantly, Rick Baker, Hollywood's premier make-up designer of the last 30 years, is on hand to create the werewolf effects. While the stunning and agonizingly believable transformation is CGI, the final look is achieved the old-fashioned way, with latex and fur.

Surprisingly while the bulk of the film goes for a glossy, big-budget look, the werewolf is a complete tribute to Jack Pierce's legendary make-up for the 1941 original.

It's a complete throwback, and it's little touches like this that lighten the gruesome mood, but also give what's essentially a lightweight blockbuster a bit more depth. Horror fans like little in-jokes that reference past classics, and this one does that time and again.

Unfortunately the characters aren't quite so interesting as the visuals they're acting alongside. It is a flimsy story and it would have been nice to have the main roles fleshed out a bit more (no pun intended).

But Anthony Hopkins hams it up beautifully, Emily Blunt looks suitably sad, distressed and gorgeous and Benicio Del Toro successfully straddles the line of leading man, and crazed werewolf killer. When you think about it, that's not really an easy thing to achieve.

There's nice support from Hugo Weaving as a Scotland Yard inspector, and we might see more of him if there are sequels on the way.

If you don't mind a bit of blood and thrills, there's plenty to enjoy in "The Wolfman".

If it has a cinematic cousin, it's not another werewolf flick, but rather Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" from 1992. Like that sumptuous exercise in retro horror, it looks stunning and is an art director's ultimate fantasy.